Trampled [Haiku]

beside the trail:
a trampled dandelion
springs back, slowly.

Early Spring [Haiku]

lake shimmer;
Spring sneaks in early --
trees still bare.

“Circular Portrait” by Ikkyū [w/ Audio]

The monk’s entire body is present
in this great circle.
Xutang’s true face and eye
emerge from it.
The blind singer’s love song delights
flowers for ten thousand springs.

Translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi and David Schneider in Essential Zen (1994) HarperSanFrancisco.

“Away with Funeral Music” by Robert Louis Stevenson [w/ Audio]

Away with funeral music -- set
The pipe to powerful lips --
The cup of life's for him that drinks
And not for him that sips.

Spring [Haiku]

Spring greenery
catches sunlight;
tiny birds chitter.

“An Ancient Proverb” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

Remove away that black'ning church:
Remove away that marriage hearse:
Remove away that man of blood:
You'll quite remove the ancient curse.

Panther [Lyric]

The panther is a scary cat:
Hardcore Hellcat primed for combat.
Except - that is - I have to say
The twenty hours it sleeps per day.

Foggy Forest [Haiku]

fog floats in;
rows of trees consumed
by whiteness.

“Aftermath” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]

When the summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown,
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.

Not the sweet, new grass with flowers
Is this harvesting of ours;
Not the upland clover bloom;
But the rowen mixed with weeds,
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,
Where the poppy drops its seeds
In the silence and the gloom.

Hermit [Senryū]

mountain hermit
looks over the city…
turns, walks back to hut.